This is the entry hall of our home. It is spacious, well-lit, and decorated in elegant red-gold. The ceilings soar atop elegant columns.

My mother is an elegant sort of woman (narrator's aside: I didn't quite inherit any of that as her daughter). She loves the classical tradition, and adds a wonderful Chinese spin to this weave.

There is nothing quite like stepping through the front doors and seeing the skies open above you, and the staircase unfurl before you.

If you peek to the left of the entry hall, you will see our living room. It continues in red and gold, with a beautiful coffee table that reminds me of an astrolabe (though I do not know what an astrolabe is). There is a piano in this room, unpictured, that we have had for perhaps twenty years. We're hoping to replace it with a nicer one.

If you peek to the right, you will see the dining room, which I like to call "The Bamboo Room," for its bamboo paintings and bamboo plants. This is the "fancy dinner table" that Chinese-American families reserve for never using.